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Runner’s trots, also called runner’s guts or runner’s stomach, is infamous within the running community. If you’ve been a distance runner for a while, there has probably been at least one time when you have had to rush to a bathroom really quickly during a run due to a sudden and urgent need to poop.
If you were lucky, you were able to make it to the bathroom in time. If you weren’t, you probably found yourself in a position where you had to think quickly about your options, whether it was making a mad dash for the woods, or accepting the fact that you won’t be able to salvage your running clothes.
Runner’s trots happen because of a number of reasons, including that blood flow gets diverted away from our digestive system to our muscles and that running is a high-impact activity that jostles all of the matter within your GI tract. No matter the reasons, it’s always a good idea to go to the bathroom before you go on a run, and to be careful about what you eat beforehand.
